Don't Be Fooled By Sugar Free Labels

You have to really be careful when buying packaged and convenience foods because what the label says isn't necessarily the truth in many cases.  In "Sugar-Free Claims are Sticky Business" Tamara Duker Freuman, explains that sugar-free is being improperly used to describe foods that don't contain white sugar.  "Some folks take a very literal interpretation of “sugar” and use it to mean only the white, granulated stuff" and she goes on to caution, "sugar free is often code for 'sweetened with sugar substitutes' so you have to be very diligent when reading labels. 

The following is by Lindsey from Lean Green Bean, who is a registered dietician 1) It’s free of added sugar like white sugar or brown sugar.  Great…but check the ingredient list. You could very well see other sources of sugar like honey, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, agave nectar, date puree, molasses, etc on the list, meaning it’s not sugar-free. 2) There’s no added sugar.  Again, does not always mean sugar-free. Many foods contain naturally occurring sugars. For example, fructose is the naturally occurring sugar in fruit and lactose is the naturally occurring sugar in milk. So, say you’re drinking a glass of orange juice. It may be made from just one ingredient- oranges- and therefore have no added sugar, but there’s still 20+ grams of sugar in that glass. 3) It’s made with sugar substitutes. While the product technically may be sugar-free, it does contain artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, etc. It’s up to you to make the choice whether you want to consume these products, but you should, at a minimum, be aware of the ones you’re consuming so you can do your research.

Deciphering food labels  Sugar goes by many different names.  To help make sense of the labels we put together this list of sugars and sweeteners (organic and artificial) used in convenience and prepackaged foods.
Monosaccharides: (simple sugars) Glucose, Dextrose,  fructose, galactose, cane sugar, honey
Disacchrides:  Sucrose, maltose, lactose Malt Syrup,  Invert Sugar, Molasses,  High Fructose Corn Syrup, Galactose, Cane Juice, Dehydrated Cane Juice, Cane Juice Solids, Cane Juice Crystals, Dextrin, Maltodextrin, Dextran, Barley malt, Beet Sugar, Corn Syrup Solids, Caramel, Buttered Syrup, Carob Syrup, Brown Sugar, Dae Sugar, Diatase, Siatastic malt, Fruit Juice, Fruit Juice Concentrate, Dehydrated Fruit Juice, Fruite Juice Crystals, Golden Syrup, Turbinado, Sorghum Syrup, Refiner's Syrup, Ethyl Maltol, Yellow Sugar, Sugarcane, Stevia, Coconut Palm Sugar, Raw Honey, Honey,  Molasses, Artichoke Syrup, Agave, Lucuma Powder, 
The Healthy Sugar Alternatives Stevia, Coconut Palm Sugar,  Lucuma Powder, Artichoke Syrup, Molasses, Raw Honey,